Harper's Island: "Gasp/Sigh" Review

Wakefield's accomplice is revealed in this exciting finale.

What if Luke Skywalker accepted Darth Vader's request to rule the galaxy together as father and son? He'd continue fighting with the Jedi Alliance, picking it apart from the inside and remaining close to his one true love – Princess Leia. While watching the final two episodes of Harper's Island I couldn't help but imagine a perverse and twisted alternate Star Wars universe where Luke was a murderer with incestuous intentions.

It doesn't take much time for people to begin pointing fingers at Jimmy as a possible Wakefield accomplice. An incident with Trish exacerbates the situation and Sully is quite adamant Jimmy's involved. The veracity of the accusations make it clear that Jimmy probably isn't the accomplice everyone is looking for. He's the red herring and that only leaves Henry out of the guys who could actually be the killer. Both Sully and Danny can be accounted for in too many situations leaving Henry as the only logical suspect amongst the men. It spoiled the surprise just a little bit. I was hoping for a swerve and that Trish might actually be the accomplice but much that seemed like a long shot.

In the first several episodes there were plenty of deaths at the hands of both Henry and Wakefield but there was no emotional attachment to those characters. In "Gasp" and "Sigh" the deaths of Danny, Sully and Trish all had impact and meaning. Danny was never given anything of substance to do during the entire series but I appreciated the character. He was the only genuinely good-natured guy amongst the whole group and I'm glad he went down fighting to save Shea and Madison.

I'll admit, I wasn't a huge fan of Sully at first but his character really grew on me and his death was about as tough to watch as Trish's. First he's forced to live through the deaths of all his friends and finally he finds out that his best friend for years betrayed and murdered everyone he knew. The acting on Harper's Island hasn't been spectacular but the look on Matt Barr's face when he found out the truth about Henry was pure anguish. Everything he knew had been torn away from him and he was left with nothing. It's a horrifying way to go, especially for someone who was so full of confidence and energy.

Trish's death came as a bit of a shock. I genuinely wanted to see her pull through and make it out of this alive. Her death is handled well though, despite the excuse to get her into her wedding gown, visually it worked. Much like Sully, her world is completely shattered at the discovery that the man she loved killed her father and all of her friends. Even if she did live to make it off the island, she would never be the same.

Trish's death also acted as the scene in which Henry was revealed as the killer. After J.D. died, many speculated that Henry could be the killer but as time went on it seemed more and more unlikely. It's not only that he genuinely appeared to love Trish, it also seemed like he was genuinely interested in getting off the island. He always acted and felt like a victim and never once let on that he could have been involved with Wakefield. That's why his turn worked so well. It was fantastic to see Henry Dunn from the perspective of being the killer. His ability to switch from crazed killer to concerned fiancé was frightening to watch.

I fully expected the killer working with Wakefield to be his child but that still left a lot of unanswered questions. Thankfully, much of that is explained by Henry himself. In what some may consider a bit too much expository dialogue, Henry details his encounter with Wakefield, learning about his parentage and eventually his training as Wakefield's apprentice. Through more flashbacks we can gather that Henry had a childhood crush for Abby that grew into an infatuation later in life and eventually fueled his rage once he found out that she was his half-sister. Sure it's a bit of a stretch to imagine Henry becoming a serial killer just because he was never told that he was adopted but it works in the context of his situation.

In the latter half of "Sigh," Henry brings Abby to her home, where he now hopes that they can live together happily ever after. This twisted vision of Henry's perfect world is fascinating to watch. Even if I had my suspicions that Henry was the killer, I never had thoughts that he had gone this mad. Henry's absolute hatred for his real mother, his incestuous love for Abby and the fact that his biological father was a serial killer sets up a surreal vision of Henry's ideal world.

Abby getting, quite literally, the final stab at Henry was an appropriate end to the story. I was a little surprised how quickly it all happened but the impact of the moment wasn't lost. This was no victory for Abby or Jimmy. Besides Shea and Madison, they had lost everyone they knew. Wakefield and Dunn managed to kill pretty much everyone on an entire island and while neither got the outcome they wanted – they certainly made their presence felt.

I was happy to see some nagging loose ends tied up, including the purpose of Uncle Marty's money. The fact that it was intended for Malcolm all along was hilarious. I'm still not to sure we ever got a sound reason as to why he was carrying a gun with him but with that much cash on hand it could have been a safety precaution. Actually, I don't quite understand why he felt the need to carry the money with him instead of writing a check.

The final flashback to videos taken on the boat prior to the nightmare on the island was a perfect way to end the series. There were no victories here; some really good people who got together to celebrate a wedding just died. Seeing Trish full of life and absolutely ecstatic about the wedding was a bit hard to watch. The show ends with Henry's video greetings and he never mentions Trish's name. It's obvious now that he always had his sights set on Abby.

It's going to be tough to recommend Harper's Island to anyone with how disappointing the first few episodes were. There's no good excuse for the events surrounding Booth's death or the whole Hunter Jenning storyline. They were all fat that was thankfully cut off early and allowed the series to mature into a far better mystery. Sure, it may have skewed towards a typical slasher flick at some points towards the end, but it was entertaining and that is all you can really ask for in the end.